WARNING: Far Cry 2 is still a broken game

Six months later, Ubisoft's FPS contains a game-ending bug with no end in sight

So you don’t think we’re blowing smoke, head on over to theofficial Far Cry 2 forums and search just how many threads have been started by forum members about corrupted game saves or game freezes. Let’s give you a head start:herefor 360 owners,herefor PS3 owners,herefor the dedicated for the save game issue, andherefor a title update, which was announced January 12. If you don’t like clicking around, take a look at some of these posts from Community Developers kimi_ and Atmon.

January 12, 2009 “We are happy to announce that we collected some information to share with you about our upcoming Xbox 360 patch.

This patch will include a lot of improvements especially on the multiplayer side; with better browsing features, more multiplayer game options, and other new additions in order to let you play the game, the way you want.

Please take note that this list is just a preview showing element that are currently done. Other elements in polishing will be revealed soon.”

There is zero mention of a patch to fix the bugs.

January 14, 2009In response to these questions posted on the forums regarding a multiplayer patch:

1) Why did Ubisoft release overpriced DLC for a game that does not work? 2) Why have multiplayer fixes been prioritized over the broken single player game?

“1) For comment on the DLC feel free to use the dedicated thread. 2) Our top priority has always been fixing bugs, other adding content. Therefore this work is separate in different teams. So even if our top goal is to ensure that everyone is able to play the game in good conditions, we still want to maximize our community experience on the game, that's why we are doing our best to take everyone's opinion into account

When it comes to bug, nothing is that simple. It's not like adding content our improving an engine. It’s about finding out why a problem occurs, how it occurs, and then solves it. So we are definitely using our resources to work on that, and we hope we will be able to correct those problems ASAP.

Thank you for your patience.”

January 22, 2009 “A lot of you are wondering what is happening with the corrupt save bug that causes the player to get stuck at a couple of different completion percentages. Ever since we received the first feedback on this from our support team and forums we’ve being investigating the issue.

As usual our primary objective was to collect as much relevant information as possible through forums, customer support and so on. We managed to gather a lot of corrupted save games from console and PC users. Unfortunately, all of that data wasn’t helping to understand how the corruption occurs, only what the effect of the corruption was. After trying different hardware and settings for weeks we recently managed to reproduce the bug on a development kit. We are currently repeating the same steps on retail consoles and on PC. After that, we will be able to move on to the next stage where our studio team works on a solution for all platforms.

We fully appreciate that it’s a frustratingly long wait for those of you experiencing this bug. We’re keen to resolve this issue for you as soon as possible and we are absolutely committing all the resources we can towards achieving this.”

March 5, 2009 “We are still working on getting the title update out to you, but wanted to give you a quick update on the corrupt saved game issue. We have been working on it since it was first reported, and are happy to report that the issue has been identified. We are working on incorporating a fix into the upcoming title update, however please be advised that the fix *may* only be for new saves created after installing the TU. We understand that it is frustrating to lose all those hours put into a saved game (believe us, we ourselves have had to physically play to the point of corruption over and over during troubleshooting), and thank you for your patience as we worked to identify the cause. More information on the fix will be available when the TU is ready for release.”

Apparently, you may need to restart the entire game in order for the title update to work correctly, or rather, in order for you to play the game without fault (hopefully).

March 12 “This new patch wave will features some major change on our engine, with weapon balance, hardcore mode, improvements on servers and database (and some other features we will reveal soon).

It means a lot of work and testing on our side (all improvements will be share by Xbox 360, PC, PS3), the good news is that we are done with our tests, and we will be able to share a release date with you soon.

I just want you to know that our team is working hard in order to provide a solid patch to increase your multiplayer experience.”

March 13 “Beyond that, there’s no further new information about [the title update patch] but we’ll get it to you for sure as soon as things are set.”

April 1Community Developer Atmon did respond to a private inquiry of ours, stating “An update is still on track with several new features and enhancements, as well as fixes like any good big patches.”